Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist April 2018 - Page 15

INSIDE EUROPE: LEAD STORY
Populist Politics and the European Scenario
Populist politics in Europe is comparatively a new
phenomenon when Populism emerged as a political dynamic
within the democratic framework of the European countries.
European political culture, after the renaissance and its
centrifugal effects on European Society, has transformed
massively, where the feudal Europe with ﬂ uid boundaries
emerged as geographical space encompassing constitutional
frameworks in the polity of European countries that envisaged
rule of law in domestic as well as external affairs. For
example, two major instances of which are the Glorious
Revolution in England in 1688, where the Absolute Monarchy
was replaced by a Constitutional Monarchy & the French
revolution in 1789, where the monarchical establishment in
France was replaced by a republic. These two events led to
a normative change in the European political culture, which
was also morphed into whole of the Europe. Two other
major events which brought constitutional order to Europe
were the two world wars, which reset the political trend into
a democratic cultured Europe. I am emphasising here that
the ground for modern political trends such as Populism in
Europe was laid after World War II, explicitly in a democratic
framework. Hence, one takeaway from such an analysis is
that populist politics even if it becomes the dominant political
trend it will not alter the normative structure of polities of
different countries in Europe.
As I have mentioned in the introduction ‘Globalisation
and Populism have an intrinsic connection’. The forces of
Globalisation have uncovered a plethora of problematic
factors for the countries which were not well suited to face
such challenges. From an economic lens, we can understand
that most European countries being part of the ‘free world’
based on a democratic constitutional order have ‘free market
economies’ relatively when compared with other parts of the
Modern political trends such as Populism in Europe
was laid after World War II, explicitly in a democratic
framework. Hence, populist politics even if it becomes
the dominant political trend it will not alter the normative
structure of polities of different countries in Europe.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 4 • April 2018, Noida • 13